Page 138 of The Promise Of You

Thalia gets off the stepladder and starts drawing. Lucas climbs up, peeks over the ceiling, then sits next to her and starts adding numbers on his phone.

I call Millie to order some Chills, Easy Monday’s version of a Frappuccino. “Dazzle us,” I say when she asks what we want. “There’s a bunch of us. Autumn, Lucas, and Thalia are here, Alex is coming any minute, which means Grace will probably pop in, and then of course there’s my team.” Somehow Haley also made it to the restaurant. “Just throw in a couple more, will ya?”

A half-hour later, Millie delivers the drinks herself, Alex enters bearing quiches made by her baker boyfriend, and as I suspected, Grace follows in her footsteps.

Thalia is scraping the wall paint with her fingernail, and tapping the floor with her foot, taking pictures and more measurements.

“How soon can you start?” Scott approved the financing for the dining room renovation this morning. Compared to the price of the restaurant, it’s not a big expense, and he had authority to do that. I want to get on it asap.

Thalia glances at Lucas. “We could start demo tomorrow…”

Excitement courses through my veins at the idea of getting started so soon. “Tomorrow we have a private event I’d hate to cancel. They booked a while ago. And Saturday, we already have a lot of reservations.”

Thalia thumbs through her phone. “Monday?”

“Monday is great. How long do you think it’ll be until we can reopen?” I glance at Shoshana, who’s already behind her station, no doubt going through our upcoming reservations.

“If we work around the clock, we should be able to complete the project by the end of the week.” She glances at Justin with a smile. “Provided your immediate neighbors don’t mind the noise going until late at night. Honestly, the place doesn’t need the structural changes that tend to lead to surprises and delays. We’re looking at creating a wow factor. Demo will be done by midday Monday—I’ll order a dumpster right away. Believe it or not, that’s often the hardest thing to line up around here,” she grumbles. “We could use the extra day to get things organized.” Then she holds up her sketchbook, her eyes darting between Autumn and me. “What do you think?”

I leave the warmth of Justin’s arm around my waist to pull up a chair next to Thalia. Her drawings show exquisite natural elements—tree bark, birch branches, antlers—mixed with subtle copper accents and plaid details. The walls are natural stone, with barn wood incorporated.

“I know where to get those,” Autumn says, pointing at some elements on the sketch pad.

“It’s just a direction for now,” Thalia says. “But what do you think?”

“I love it. I just want to make sure it’s not too stuffy.”

“It won’t be. It’ll be more on the dreamy side,” Autumn says. “We could add fairy lights to the birch.”

“I can have a team of painters and tilers lined up for next week, no problem,” Lucas confirms. “I’m gonna head out and make some calls” he adds, grabbing a Chill. “Thanks for the drink!” he tells me while he leans over to give Thalia a kiss.

“Of course! Thank you for coming by so quickly.”

Justin kisses my temple tenderly. “Same, babe. Gotta run. You okay?”

“Course. Go!”

He lingers. “Your place is going to look awesome,” he whispers in my ear. “You look awesome.” He squeezes my waist. “I love you.”

Our eyes meet. “Love you too,” I whisper back.

I catch Haley looking at us dreamily, and focus my attention on Alex, who’s taking photos of Thalia’s sketches. “Just for a making of,” she mumbles.

“I have everything I need,” Thalia says after a few more minutes, pocketing her sketch pad. “I’ll be in touch with an estimate tonight or first thing tomorrow. And more defined sketches.”

Once she’s gone, Alex turns to me. “Ohmygod, that’s going to look fab!”

I hope fab is in my budget. I’m about to catch up with Thalia, make sure she doesn’t get too carried away, when Gisele struts into the dining room, conversations instantly dying at her arrival.

I bet she gets that a lot.

I step next to her. “Everyone, this is Gisele. Gisele is—”

“Justin’s baby mama,” she interrupts me.

I register the shock on my friends’ faces. I take a beat, then pick back up. “Right. Gisele, this is Justin’s sister Haley,” I say, pointing to a tight-lipped, narrowed-eyed Haley; “Grace,” with her mouth agape; “Alex,” her eyes to Gisele’s belly; “Kiara,” her eyes narrowed on me; “Shoshana, Abby, and Corine,” all three wide-eyed at me. “And finally, this is Millie, who makes the best coffee in town.” Millie is squinting, her gaze darting between the two of us.

You could hear a pin drop.

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